Hundreds of Serbs sing to mourn members of Alexandrov Ensemble killed in Tu-154 crash

BELGRADE – A whole basketball arena in Serbia joined to sing a folk song in memory of the members of the legendary Alexandrov Ensemble who were on board the ill-fated Tu-154 jet that crashed off the coast of the Black Sea.

The moving, yet heartfelt, moment was caught on camera earlier this week when Crvena Zvezda, a Serbian basketball club, was playing Russia’s CSKA in the 2016 Euroleague playoffs.

As the players were warming up, over 20,000 Serbian fans rose to sing under a banner reading: “May heaven hear the song of this 20,000-strong choir!”

The choice of the song was symbolic – ‘Tamo daleko’, or ‘There, Far Away’, is widely known among the Serbs for its nostalgic, sorrowful melody.

The song, which was composed in 1916, glorifies Serbian warriors who took up arms in defense of their homeland and mourns those who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield.

Nobody among the Russians knew of our performance,” Davor Ristovic, Crvena Zvezda’s director, told RT. “Everyone was amazed when 20,000 people applauded at the end of the game. This was a human, emotional and patriotic act of the Serbs,” he added.

A Tu-154 airliner owned by Russia’s Defense Ministry plummeted into the Black Sea on December 25, just minutes after taking off from Sochi airport. The crash claimed the lives of nine crew members and 94 passengers. Among them were 64 members of the famous Alexandrov Ensemble, including their director and conductor, General Valery Khalilov.